BIG provides a healthy helping of awards for Welsh communities

From projects to help people in Welsh communities beat the bulge and lead healthier lives to schemes which focus on protecting the environment and developing more sustainable communities, a range of groups throughout Wales are benefiting from the latest round of Awards for All funding today.

A total of 61 community-based projects across Wales share in the £225,087 awarded under the latest round of the Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All small grants programme (full list of awards at the end of the release).

Health is at the heart of a number of projects awarded today. Childhood obesity has been one of the most worrying health trends in Wales over the last 15 years, with more children overweight than ever before. That’s why a number of awards under the latest round are aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of people in Welsh communities.

After-school clubs throughout Wales will be using the money to provide healthy eating and exercise sessions to improve the health of young people in their communities. Nantyfyllon After School Club (£2,860) in Maesteg, Dyffryn Taf School in Preseli (£4,999) Clwb Ilar in Aberyswyth (£4,836) and Ysgol Carrog After School Club (£3,250) in Denbighshire will provide additional activities and equipment for their after-school clubs which will enable children to develop new skills and engage in healthy physical activities.

Negating the effects of diabetes is the aim in Flintshire, North Wales. With the £1,800 they received, The Flintshire Diabetes Voluntary Group will spend money on providing cookery courses for people with diabetes, which will help them produce meals which are tasty and healthy and enable them to maintain long term health and improve their quality of life.

Cooking healthy meals also takes centre stage in the South Wales Valleys, with the Tonyrefail Primary School Fundraising Committee in Rhondda Cynon Taff spending the £1,948 they were awarded to furnish a `cookery school'. It will enable them to offer healthy eating classes to members of the community and children, introducing them to healthy options at an early age.

Projects highlighting the importance of sustainable living and protecting our environment also feature prominently under the latest round. Kidwelly Town Forum in Carmarthenshire will use the £4,295 they were awarded to hold an Eco Fest for the community to increase their knowledge of how to make more use of local resources and lead more sustainable lifestyles. The Awel Aman Tawe group in neighbouring Neath Port Talbot will also spend £4,000 on a series of workshops and a festival focused on climate change and low carbon communities with the aim of engaging people in environmental debates, action and decision making.

In St Dogmaels, Pembrokeshire, the Quiet Earth Association will spend £4,797 on holding an open day to provide information for the community on ways and methods of sustainable living and building. Meanwhile, in Knucklas, Powys, the Knucklas Castle Community Land Project Limited will spend £5,000 on providing a sustainable water source for their community agriculture project which will supply current projects at the site and enable additional initiatives to be developed.

Other projects funded promote and support the use of the Welsh language in communities. A grant of £4,960 will enable Menter Iaith Bro'r Creuddyn in Conwy, North Wales, to run a series of Welsh workshops. In Gwynedd, Cylchgrawn Ieuenctid Dyffryn Ogwen will spend £5,000 to set up and run a Welsh language magazine run mainly by young people in order to teach new skills and encourage interaction through the medium of Welsh with people from different backgrounds.

The Awards for All programme has awarded more than £20 million of Lottery funding to good causes since 2001. Recognised as one of the quickest ways to secure Lottery funding, Awards for All is one of the most successful Lottery funding programmes to date and has injected grants of between £500 and £5,000 into a wide range of community projects.

Gareth Williams, Awards for All Programme Manager for BIG in Wales, said: "Awards for All is having a positive impact throughout Wales. Money is helping to establish groups, societies and clubs, promoting learning, increasing volunteering opportunities and helping to build stronger communities."

Available in English and Welsh, the application for the programme can be downloaded, completed and emailed direct to the Big Lottery Fund, as well as being available in hard copy. Application forms are available from www.awardsforall.org.uk or by phone on 0845 4 10 20 30.